I got a sneak peek at the site, to launch this week at dnacommunities.com. The forum has boards for people whose tests have revealed European, Native American, Melungeon and “World” (non-European) heritages, plus a general Q&A board.

On request from DNA Consultants customers, monitors for each category will search updated versions of the OmniPop DNA comparison database. (Users tested by another company can order searches and analysis for $120.) The OmniPop database, which DNAConsulting licenses, contains DNA test results from volunteers. It’s also free online but can be pretty tricky for laypeople to use.

DNA Consulting staff will answer genetic genealogy questions on the site's General Discussion board. Principal investigator Donald Yates says he hopes the site will help people understand results from DNA Consulting's DNA Fingerprint test, but you don’t have to be a customer to join the forum.